Waterbury evening Democrat., 1887-12-08

a railroad man would say, a great Y. At that time no telegraph wires were on this cross road; they were not put up till 1877. There were also numerous side tracks, and a probability that cars might be left standing on some of them; and as we had more than made up our hours delay at Kingston and were now much ahead of time, there was no certainty of the road being rightly adjusted for us. 1t was therefore necessary to stop at the open ing of the switch, which was fortunately :, little way down from the large passen- ger depot, which had a shed over all the tracks, and through which we had to pass.
 Here the coolness and adroitness of An tirews shone out with pre-eminent luster. It is likely that when we had spoken of fighting a little way back, his mind was occupied rather with the problem of pass ing Dalton, and of judging by what took place there whether the enemy was warned. The train was stopped, he ran forward, observed that the track was clear, spoke to one or two bystanders, and was back to his post in an exceedingly short time. To one or two who had come up even in these few seconds, he said: "I am running this train through to Corinth, and have no time to spare;" and nodded to Knight. who once more put on the full force of the engine-there was nothing to be gained by care in avoiding alarm any longer, for the distant whistle of the pursuer was heard-and we rushed at the depot, which then stood right across the double track, and passed with fearful speed under its roof. Here Knight got his most terrible fright. The darting into the partial dark ness of the shed was bad enough, but just at the far end the main track bends sharply to the left, and the swerve was so sudden and the speed already so high, that Knight believed he was rushing on another side track, and that in a moment would come the awful crash. But instead the engine instantly lighted, and he again saw the track straight before him. But so quickly had we passed that we could not certainly determine whether the people at the sta tion had been warned or notl
 A mile above Dalton, which was about as soon as the headlong rush of the engine could be checked, we stopped again, just opposite to where Col. Jesse Glenn's regi- ment of conscripts were encamped in a field. Their position, which was within 200 or 300 yards of us, was probably not seen until we were close to them, and it was better to take the risk of their inter- ference than to lose time by seeking an- other place for more pressing work. Again the wire was cut; but it was
 
 been flashed through, no doubt even as Scott was bringing it down. The usual Instructions were here piled on the track, and we again essayed to take up rail, for the Chickamauga bridges were just above, and we wanted time enough to get them on fire, hoping that Fuller would stop long enough at Dalton for the pur- pose of getting his telegram ready, to allow us to finish the track lifting. No men ever worked with more desperate en- ergy, but all in vain; long before the rail was loose the pursuers were again upon us.
 The race recommended with all its speed and fury. The great tunnel was a short distance ahead-a glorious place for an ambush, where, in the darkness, the guns of the enemy would be of little value If Andrews was disposed to fight, there would be the place of all others to do it. With the smoke of our train filling the space, with our party in ambush along the sides, success would be comparatively
 sure, if they had twice our number, for of course we could not tell how much of re-enforcement they might pick up at Dalton. But we kept right on through the tunnel and the village of Tunnel Hill beyond. where we carefully drew down to conceal our number from the curious eyes of any who might be about the station. At Calhoun Fuller had received small but very effective re-enforcement-onlya a boy thirteen years old, but worth dozen of ordinary men-by means of one of those apparently small circumstances which often influence the course of great events. At Chattanooga the chief-oflicers of the road had become alarmed by re- ceiving no dispatches from Atlanta, or | the stations below Kingston. They there | fore directed the young assistant operator at Dalton to jump on the passenger train ! just then leaving that station and go south, sending them back word at each station passed till the cause of the trouble was found. He had only got as far as l Calhoun when Andrews passed, and Fuller in a moment after. The latter hardly came to a stop before he saw the operator, and called him, and without a word of explanation seized his hand and dragged | him on the train. In the run up, how ever, he made all the necessary explana- uions, and wrote out the following dis patch:
 RULERS TELEGRAM.
 s'To Gen. Leadbetter, commander at Chat tanooga:
 ssMy train was captured this a. m. at Big Shanty, evidently by Federal soldiers l in disguise. They are making rapidly for Chattanooga, possibly with the idea of burning the railroad bridges in their rear. If do not capture them in the meantime, see that they do not pass Chattanooga. CIVILIAN A. FULLER" | This he gave to the operator, saying,
 'sDon't speak to anybody or lose second | till Ju put that through to Chattanooga. Jump for the platform when I slow up, for I must push on and keep those Yankees from getting up rail or burning the bridges"
 It was terribly quick work. The opera tor was at home in the office, and almost before Fuller had cleared the shed he was | at the desk and the first words were over the wires. Whether they had time to get the whole message over before the cut is very doubtful, and not material, for the first two lines would answer every pur- pose. Had Fuller stopped at this point, and himself went into the office long | enough to set the operator at work, it is | almost certain we would have had the rail l up, and then all the bridges above that point would have been burned; though it is still possible that enough of the message might have been pushed through to secure our arrest in Chattanooga This was another striking instance of the many narrow margins on which this day hinged. TO BE CONTINUED.